I love Canterbury such a tourist town, wandering around in the half light at 8.30 at night with everything humming. Gulls wheel over the town and although the Cathedral is prominent it doesn't rule the town as the Pagan Pride parade yesterday proved. Commercialism is the true god I think. So many coffee and cake shops and ones selling really comfortable shoes in attractive designs and colours. Lots of charity shops as well as churches. There are Anglicans, Catholics, Anglican-Cathlics, Quakers, Methodists and Uniting as well as all the churches now used for something else, fun.


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Today was Dover Castle. I climbed the hill from the town, bad idea, even walking down was a bad idea. But the castle was pretty amazing and covered all periods. There seems little trace of the iron age fort but the Roman, Anglo Saxon, medieval, early modern etc are all there to enjoy. I did the secret war tunnels tour the medieval and napoleonic spur trip and climbed the great hall, then visited the roman light hose and the Anglo church, restored by Victorians who you can't trust with a pile of bricks. My brain is full and my knees hurt, so I must have had a really satisfactory day.


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There is also a fairly


educational Roman museum I particularly liked the unnamed but popular Celtic hood wearing guy who apparently was around quite a bit. You can see he looks really unreliable for a god


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The museum has a section on Joseph Conrad as well as Rupert Bear and covers the history of the town from Neolithic to modern times

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Canterbury is a cheerful touristy town with a fine cathedral and a small but intelligent museum


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Syracuse, the scene of the tragic end of Athenian ambition. We passed Etna on the way , vast and seemingly peaceful after the violent Roman mosaics


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Location:Floridia,Italy

The museum in agrigento has some good pieces but from the phone I can post only pics I got on the phone

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More Greek temples today, getting a bit over crappy stone Doric no matter how large, i


prefer the later ones on the whole.


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Selinunte by the beach had a mass of temples which didn't stop it being destroyed by man and the gods. War, earthquakes and the harbor silting up took their toll. Today it was a mass of flowers both local and introduced


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Motya is a really interesting Punic settlement

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Sicily is very easy when you are on a tour everything organized mind you in many ways it's only a taster

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The cathedral is Norman Byzantine and very spectacular


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Beautiful sunny day at Monreale for the cathedral and the ancient town of Solunto


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Palermo is quite amazing, such a mixture of crumbling and restored, Norman and everything else


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Wellington sort of day the arch and his house.


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Hampton Court

They were filming Jack the Giantkiller there today so the main court was full of sheep and goats while by the river horses lurked. Its a funny mixture of Tudor meets Stuart then Georgian. The gardens are fullof strange flowers and the whole place was subject to waves of school kids screaming through rather like demonic posession

Hampton Court today


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I think of Nivea as pretty staid but os they seem to be more adventurous, perhaps I go to the wrong shops. This lipstick is attractively green in all senses


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London

Clear but chilly when I arrived. In to town achieving oyster card on the way, comes without instructions but the locals are tolerant of the fumbling. Hard to look like the sophisticated traveller as you activate the gates next door and fail to get your own gates to open. I am always so pleased to be a stranger in town. None of these folk know or care if I make a complete cake of myself. It was far too early for the hotel to be ready tho they happily took my luggage, lucky luggage it was very comfy in that office. Aching with the trip and pretty groggy despite at least six hours of broken awkward dozing I lurched out into the day. Vodafone does not get up early so off to St Giles in the Fields, cmpletely surrounded by highrise, some interesting Australian connections Balmain buried there. Also poets Chapman and Marvell. Had to buy a scarf as the wind was sharp. Phone was set up by the nice people and off I went. Decided to look at the National Gallery, so wonderful, pity they don't allow photos, even the interiors are worth a shot, richly grand but sufficiently austere to let you enjoy the art.

Singapore has refurbished it's terminals, still looked ok to me but fancier now and you can comment on the toilets seemingly a permanent feature


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New apps for fun but why does it think I am in Putney?

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Location:Riverside Ave,Putney,Australia

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Getting close

Time is just about here to get on the road again. One week to go.



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Location:Riverside Meadowbank,Australia

Democracy

Enormous amount here to comprehend and an entire building to explore, pity I was pretty pooped from the zoo and wandered around in a rather haphazard fashion. The display of political cartoons I enjoyed and the speakers rooms, the press gallery was fun but most of the rest I glossed over except for a few personal favourites.

The Zoo

Really enjoyed this, my first visit despite having been to Canberra over a score of times. Lots of big cats and a pleasant diversity of others. It rained at first, then cleared and became very steamy, then it teemed but after we had finished. Its quite small but a very interesting selection.

Watching the floods

In between sightseeing we watched the progressive submerging of Brisbane and surrounds. Amazing sights, surprising what can float down the river, cars, bins, sofas, restaurants, just everything.
The National Museum was its usual baffling self. It really should explain what it is on about not just throw non-traditional exhibitions at you and hope you will get whatever their point was supposed to be. Really wet too.

Canberra in January

Traditionally, well a couple of times, we have travelled to canberra in Jan. Richard wanted to check a couple of things for the yr 10 excursion in May and hell we all like to get away. This time I got a suite which is pleasantly spacious, larger than our flat I suspect. We looked at the War Memorial, the National Museum, the Museum of Democracy and the Zoo.
First the war memorial. Saw the revamped Hall of Valour which was good but might get a bit packed in the peak periods and enjoyed some of the rearranged exhibitions.Saw a memorial outside to Dads mob, water transport. The red anchor on a purple background is something I grew up with as Dad used his army greatcoat for years. The cafe has been rebuilt as well and looks good.

 

Just to give my friends a laugh, Robyn and I dressed as the sultan's mothers-in-law in the cisterns in Istanbul

 

Tunisian Treat

 

The brik is a delicious deep fried fast food that is a specialty in Tunisia, the most common is the tuna brik - a brik au thon. It has an egg in it and in a good one the egg is runny. They taste so much better than I can describe, the sort of thing one would never eat at home but with the freedom of a holiday far far away can become a daily taste sensation.